Transmitting data including pieces of data

ABSTRACT

A method and system for transmitting data including pieces of data. The method includes the steps of: placing a piece of data on at least one cache memory; and sending a signal indicating a presence of the piece of data on the cache memory to at least one client, where at least one of the steps is carried out by a computer device.

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATION

This application claims priority under 35 U.S.C. § 119 from EuropeanPatent Application No. 11168100.3 filed May 30, 2011, the entirecontents of which are incorporated herein by reference.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

Field of the Invention

The present invention relates to the field of communication networks.More particularly, the present invention relates to the sending or thereceiving of data including pieces of data.

Description of Related Art

A communication network usually includes at least one server and clientsconnected to the server. In such a communication network, the serverstores data in a repository memory. The server can send such data to theclients when requested to do so. Usually, the data include pieces ofdata. The server can send one piece of data at a time via a cache memoryof the repository, upon requests of clients. Data transmission ismentioned in documents such as U.S. Pat. No. 6,374,254 and U.S. PatentPublication No. 2007/0174873. Cache memory is mentioned in documentssuch as U.S. Patent Publication No. 2009/0187713 and U.S. Pat. No.7,143,143.

The use of a cache is not entirely efficient, especially when thenetwork includes a large number of clients and/or the data is large andinclude many pieces of data. Thus, there can be a long delay inreceiving the whole data for clients.

Accordingly, streaming solutions have been developed. Namely, pieces ofdata are copied as they are required. Streaming is mentioned indifferent publications, such as “OS Streaming Deployment” by D. Clerc,L. Garcés-Erice, and S. Rooney in Proceeding of IPCCC'10, “New insightson internet streaming and iptv” by Z. Xiao and F. Ye in ProceedingsCIVR'08, U.S. Patent Publication No. 2009/0199175, U.S. PatentPublication No. 2010/0306399, and U.S. Patent Publication No.2010/0325410. Furthermore, other solutions are presented in documentsU.S. Pat. No. 7,398,382 and WO 2009/042327. However, these solutions canstill be improved.

There is a thus a need for an improved solution for transmitting data ona communication network.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

Accordingly, one aspect of the present invention provides a method ofsending data including pieces of data, the method including the stepsof: placing a piece of data on at least one cache memory; and sending asignal indicating a presence of the piece of data on the cache memory toat least one client, where at least one of the steps is carried out by acomputer device.

Another aspect of the present invention provides a method of receivingdata including pieces of data, the method including the steps of:receiving a signal indicating a presence of a piece of data on a cachememory, where at least one of the steps is carried out by a computerdevice.

Another aspect of the present invention provides a server systemincluding: a repository memory; a cache memory; a network interface; anda processor configured to: place a piece of data on at least one cachememory; and send a signal indicating a presence of the piece of data onthe cache memory to at least one client.

Another aspect of the present invention provides a client systemincluding: a memory; a network interface; and a processor configured to:receive a signal indicating a presence of a piece of data on a cachememory.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 shows a flowchart of the method for sending data implemented by aserver according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 shows a flowchart of the method for receiving data implemented bythe client according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 3 shows an example of benefits of streaming according to anembodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 4 shows different components in an example and how they interactfor performing a method of communication of the present invention.

FIG. 5 is a block diagram of computer hardware according to anembodiment of the present invention.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS

The above and other features of the present invention will become moredistinct by a detailed description of embodiments shown in combinationwith attached drawings. Identical reference numbers represent the sameor similar parts in the attached drawings of the invention.

As will be appreciated by one skilled in the art, aspects of the presentinvention can be embodied as a system, method or computer programproduct. Accordingly, aspects of the present invention can take the formof an entirely hardware embodiment, an entirely software embodiment(including firmware, resident software, micro-code, etc.) or anembodiment combining software and hardware aspects that can allgenerally be referred to herein as a “circuit,” “module” or “system.”Furthermore, aspects of the present invention can take the form of acomputer program product embodied in one or more computer readablemedium(s) having computer readable program code embodied thereon.

Any combination of one or more computer readable medium(s) can beutilized. A computer readable storage medium can be, for example, butnot limited to, an electronic, magnetic, optical, electromagnetic,infrared, or semiconductor system, apparatus, or device, or any suitablecombination of the foregoing. More specific examples (a non-exhaustivelist) of the computer readable storage medium can include the following:an electrical connection having one or more wires, a portable computerdiskette, a hard disk, a random access memory (RAM), a read-only memory(ROM), an erasable programmable read-only memory (EPROM or Flashmemory), an optical fiber, a portable compact disc read-only memory(CD-ROM), an optical storage device, a magnetic storage device, or anysuitable combination of the foregoing. In the context of this document,a computer readable storage medium can be any tangible medium that cancontain, or store a program for use by or in connection with aninstruction execution system, apparatus, or device.

Computer program code for carrying out operations for aspects of thepresent invention can be written in any combination of one or moreprogramming languages, including an object oriented programming languagesuch as Java, Smalltalk, C++ or the like and conventional proceduralprogramming languages, such as the “C” programming language or similarprogramming languages. The program code can execute entirely on theuser's computer, partly on the user's computer, as a stand-alonesoftware package, partly on the user's computer.

Aspects of the present invention are described below with reference toflowchart illustrations and/or block diagrams of methods, apparatus(systems) and computer program products according to embodiments of theinvention. It will be understood that each block of the flowchartillustrations and/or block diagrams, and combinations of blocks in theflowchart illustrations and/or block diagrams, can be implemented bycomputer program instructions. These computer program instructions canbe provided to a processor of a general purpose computer, specialpurpose computer, or other programmable data processing apparatus toproduce a machine, such that the instructions, which execute via theprocessor of the computer or other programmable data processingapparatus, create means for implementing the functions/acts specified inthe flowchart and/or block diagram block or blocks.

These computer program instructions can also be stored in a computerreadable medium that can direct a computer, other programmable dataprocessing apparatus, or other devices to function in a particularmanner, such that the instructions stored in the computer readablemedium produce an article of manufacture including instructions whichimplement the function/act specified in the flowchart and/or blockdiagram block or blocks.

The computer program instructions can also be loaded onto a computer,other programmable data processing apparatus, or other devices to causea series of operational steps to be performed on the computer, otherprogrammable apparatus or other devices to produce a computerimplemented process such that the instructions which execute on thecomputer or other programmable apparatus provide processes forimplementing the functions/acts specified in the flowchart and/or blockdiagram block or blocks.

The flowchart and block diagrams in the Figures illustrate thearchitecture, functionality, and operation of possible implementationsof systems, methods and computer program products according to variousembodiments of the present invention. In this regard, each block in theflowchart or block diagrams can represent a module, segment, or portionof code, which includes one or more executable instructions forimplementing the specified logical function(s). It should also be notedthat, in some alternative implementations, the functions noted in theblock can occur out of the order noted in the figures. For example, twoblocks shown in succession can, in fact, be executed substantiallyconcurrently, or the blocks can sometimes be executed in the reverseorder, depending upon the functionality involved. It will also be notedthat each block of the block diagrams and/or flowchart illustration, andcombinations of blocks in the block diagrams and/or flowchartillustration, can be implemented by special purpose hardware-basedsystems that perform the specified functions or acts, or combinations ofspecial purpose hardware and computer instructions.

The terminology used herein is for the purpose of describing particularembodiments only and is not intended to be limiting of the invention. Asused herein, the singular forms “a”, “an” and “the” are intended toinclude the plural forms as well, unless the context clearly indicatesotherwise. It will be further understood that the terms “includes”and/or “including,” when used in this specification, specify thepresence of stated features, integers, steps, operations, elements,and/or components, but do not preclude the presence or addition of oneor more other features, integers, steps, operations, elements,components, and/or groups thereof.

The corresponding structures, materials, acts, and equivalents of allmeans or step plus function elements in the claims below are intended toinclude any structure, material, or act for performing the function incombination with other claimed elements as specifically claimed. Thedescription of the present invention has been presented for purposes ofillustration and description, but is not intended to be exhaustive orlimited to the invention in the form disclosed. Many modifications andvariations will be apparent to those of ordinary skill in the artwithout departing from the scope and spirit of the invention. Theembodiment was chosen and described in order to best explain theprinciples of the invention and the practical application, and to enableothers of ordinary skill in the art to understand the invention forvarious embodiments with various modifications as are suited to theparticular use contemplated.

According to one aspect, the invention is embodied as a methodimplemented by a server system for sending data including pieces ofdata. The method includes placing a piece of data on at least one cachememory and sending a signal indicating the presence of the piece of dataon the cache memory to at least one client.

According to another aspect, the invention is embodied as a serversystem. The server includes a repository memory, a cache memory, anetwork interface, a processor, and recorded instructions that cause theprocessor to perform the above method for sending data.

According to another aspect, the invention is embodied as a computerprogram including instructions for performing the method for sendingdata.

According to another aspect, the invention is embodied as a data storagemedium having recorded thereon the computer program includinginstructions for performing the method for sending data.

According to another aspect, the invention is embodied as a methodimplemented by a client system for receiving data including pieces ofdata. The method includes receiving a signal indicating the presence ofa piece of data on a cache memory.

According to another aspect, the invention is embodied as a clientsystem. The client system includes a memory, a network interface, aprocessor, and recorded instruction that cause the processor to performthe method for receiving data.

According to another aspect, the invention is embodied as a computerprogram including instructions for performing the method for receivingdata.

According to another aspect, the invention is embodied as a data storagemedium having recorded thereon the computer program includinginstructions for performing the method for receiving data.

According to another aspect, the invention is embodied as a method fortransmitting data. The method for transmitting data includes performingthe method for sending data by at least one server, and performing themethod for receiving data by at least one client. The server sends thesignal indicating the presence of the piece of data on the cache memoryto at least two clients, preferably all the clients of a network.

According to another aspect, the invention is embodied as a system forperforming the method for transmitting data including at least oneserver and at least two clients.

A “cache” memory is, as widely known in the art, a transient memory ofthe server. In other words, a cache memory is a memory which is erasedwhen the server is switched off.

By “repository” memory, it is meant any type of persistent memory of theserver, as widely known in the art. In other words, a repository memoryis a memory which is not erased even if the server is switched off. By“piece of data”, it is meant any block of data constituting the wholedata that are to be transmitted (i.e. sent or received).

Sending a signal indicating the presence of the piece of data on thecache memory to at least one client can include broadcasting the signalon a network by the server. Clients monitoring the server can thenreceive the signal.

Thus, receiving a signal indicating the presence of a piece of data on acache memory can mean for a client a client receiving a signalindicating the presence of a piece of data on a cache memory of amonitored server.

The invention improves the scalability and performance of datatransmission. The idea of the method is to improve the use of the highthroughput of a cache to efficiently transmit data from servers toclients. The methods, programs and systems of the invention perform thisimprovement by means of a signal that indicates the presence of thepiece of data on the cache memory of a server. By signaling the presenceof the piece of data on the cache memory of the server, the inventioncan offer several advantages:

-   -   all clients receiving the signal can access the piece of data        present on the cache memory;    -   the cache memory allows a fast transmission, faster than should        the data be accessed when it is in a repository memory;    -   the server has an improved scalability, as more clients can be        fed from the server and/or more pieces of data can be        transmitted for a given time; and/or    -   the cache memory does not allow the placing of a too high amount        of data but offers fast transmission from the server to a client        for the particular piece of data present on the cache memory.

In embodiments, the method for sending data can include one or more ofthe following features:

-   -   the method includes receiving a request for the piece of data        and placing the requested piece of data on the cache;    -   the method includes selecting in a repository an unrequested        piece of data and placing the selected piece of data on the        cache;    -   selecting the unrequested piece of data includes evaluating a        likeliness of the unrequested piece of data to be requested;    -   the method includes gathering the pieces of data into groups of        similar pieces of data and attributing a respective cache to        each group;    -   the signal includes an identifier of the piece of data;    -   the data include an operating system image;    -   communication (i.e. a sending or a receiving) can be performed        via an iSCSI interface (e.g. an iSCSI target).

In embodiments, the method for receiving data can include one or more ofthe following features:

-   -   the method includes sending a request for the piece of data and        receiving a signal indicating the presence of the requested        piece of data;    -   the method includes receiving a signal indicating the presence        of an unrequested piece of data and evaluating a need for the        received piece of data;    -   evaluating a need for the received piece of data includes        determining if the received piece of data is already present in        a memory;    -   the signal includes an identifier of the piece of data;    -   the data include an operating system image;    -   communication (i.e. a sending or a receiving) can be performed        via an iSCSI interface (e.g. an iSCSI initiator).

In an embodiment, a piece of data is put into the cache, and the clientsreceive the signal that indicates that such piece is available. All theclients that are downloading the full content of the data and need thepiece of data can request that piece of data. The clients all benefitfrom fast access to the cached data in such a case. While the piece ofdata in the cache is being transmitted, the server can read more datafrom repository disk memory and put such new data into the cache. Theserver can signal this new data with a new signal. Such a method can beiterated until the whole data are fully transmitted. The fulltransmission is performed fast.

The main point of the invention is to use a signaling mechanism toenhance the transfer of data. By signaling the presence of a piece ofdata on a cache, the server allows clients that have not requested thepiece of data to download the piece of data. Thus, the method canexclude sending data to one client solely based upon requests of theclient for pieces of data. Rather, the method provides the possibilityto clients to be aware of a potentially interesting piece of data on acache, and receive it in a fast way, as it is on cache memory. Theinvention thus improves the scalability of a server using suchmechanism.

A random access method, which is a hypothetical method different fromthe methods of the invention, is now discussed for illustrating theabove advantages. The performance of any data transmission mechanismdepends on the piece of data being requested by a client at any point intime being available from the memory of the machine serving the data(i.e. the server). Disk I/O is orders of magnitude slower than access toRAM, i.e. MByte/Sec rather than Gigabyte/Sec. Moreover, magnetic diskshave low efficiency at random access, typically having millisecondseek/rotate times as the disk head is moved to the appropriate sector.So for example, given a 1 ms seek/rotate latency if one accesses datarandom over the disk in units of 4 Kilobytes, one cannot achieve abetter throughput than 4 MByte/Sec with such a random access method,even if the read-in-place throughput of the disk is a 100 MByte/Sec.Moreover, as the content requests can arrive for more and more differentpieces of data, disk I/O degrades even further, as ulterior requestscannot benefit from the read-ahead of the disk heads over the contentsof a given piece of data: each access to disk requires repositioning ofthe reading heads, and I/O performance collapses. Thus, there is a limitto the number of pieces of data and the number of clients that can beefficiently provisioned from a given server with random access methods.The main problem with such a random access method can be that it is ingeneral not possible to predict a priori which pieces of data are goingto be requested by which client. A best effort cache can put the piecesof data that are requested in a cache memory, in the hope that they canbe requested again. However, if there is no correlation between therequests received, other parts can need to be brought into the cache,eventually filling it up. The cache can thus discard some of the imageparts in the cache to allow for new ones, but this can not be using thecache efficiently because most of the accesses can end up requiringdirect access to the disk, nullifying the purpose of having a cache, anddegrading performance.

As opposed to this random access method, the signaling mechanism of theinvention helps overcome this problem, enabling the transmission of moredata to a larger number of clients, e.g. using substantially the samehardware resources. This is especially useful for example in Cloudenvironments, where many clients (e.g., virtual machines) can access ordownload simultaneously data such as one or more operating systemimages. In such a case, the signaling improves the number of clientsthat can be provisioned efficiently for a given infrastructure,providing clear value by extending the capabilities of currentlydeployed systems.

Now, it is referred to FIGS. 1-3 which represent examples of the methodsof the invention.

FIG. 1 represents an example of the method for sending data implementedby a server. It must be noted that several servers can be implementingthe method in parallel. In the example, the method includes receiving(S01) a request for a piece of data and/or selecting (S02) in arepository an unrequested piece of data. A request for a piece of datacomes from outside the server. Such selecting (S02) is not performedbased on an outside request, but fully by a controller on the server. Inany case, the method includes placing (S1) in the cache the piece ofdata received at (S01) and/or the piece of data selected at (S02). Forexample, the server can have several caches and can thus perform, e.g.substantially in parallel, one or several instances of (S01) followed by(S1) and/or one or several instances of (S02) followed by (S1), suchinstances being possibly iterated. The method of the example alsoincludes sending (S2) a signal indicating the presence of the piece ofdata on the cache memory to at least one client. For example, the signalincludes an identifier of the piece of data, such as a block number of agiven disk, a given offset/location/size in a file of data. The cache(s)contemplated in the method is (are) different from the cache of therepository. For management efficiency purposes, the cache can be locatedon the server. However, the signaling is performed easier if the cacheis different from a repository cache. Thus, the cache can be a cache ofthe server different from a repository cache. If the piece of data isrequired by a client (for example because the request received at (S01)came from the client or the client is signaled that the piece of data isin the cache and needs the piece of data), then the method also includessending (S3) the piece of data to such client (e.g. at least one clientrequesting the send).

FIG. 2 represents an example of the method for receiving dataimplemented by the client. It must be noted that several clients can beimplementing the method in parallel. It must also be noted that themethods of FIG. 1 and the methods of FIG. 2 can be interrelated, theclient(s) receiving piece(s) data from the server(s) sending thepiece(s) of data. In the example, the method includes sending (S4) arequest for the piece of data. After that, the method includes receiving(S51) a signal indicating the presence of the requested piece of data ona cache memory, e.g. of a server, e.g. a server which have received andaccepted the request (such as explained referring to FIG. 1).Alternately or substantially in parallel, the client can receive (S52) asignal indicating the presence of an unrequested piece of data on acache memory. The client can then evaluate (S6) a need for theunrequested piece of data. In such a case, the signal indicates thepresence of data which was not asked by the client but put on the cacheanyway, for example because it has been requested by another client andhas been put on the cache of a server anyway. Thus, the signalingmechanism allows traditional client requests but improves thetransmitting of data by adding the possibility for a client to receiveunrequested pieces of data. For this, the method includes evaluating(S6) a need for the unrequested piece of data. For example, the clientcan determine if the received piece of data is already present in amemory (of the client) and e.g. download the piece of data if it is notpresent. Or, the client can determine if the piece of data completesother pieces of data already present in a memory of the client. Then,the client receives (S7) the piece of data if it is indeed a neededpiece of data, for example by launching a download protocol.

The sending and receiving methods can thus combine transmission (i.e.sending (by server) and receiving (by client) pieces of data) which is“on demand” (i.e. a client receives a piece of data which the client hasrequested) to transmission via the signaling mechanism (i.e. a clientreceives a piece data because the client has received a signalindicating the presence of the piece of data on the cache and the clientneeds the piece of data). This allows for a higher efficiency. Indeed,data is transmitted both ways, and the transmission via signalingmechanism avoids waiting for the piece of data to be requested.

For example, selecting (S02) the unrequested piece of data can includeevaluating a likelihood of the unrequested piece of data to berequested. Typically, a controller of the server analyses the data inthe repository and selects a piece of data which has high probability ofbeing requested. Placing such a piece of data on the cache before it isrequested makes the transmission faster. For example, the controller cananalyze the requests and perform statistics to rank the remainingunrequested pieces of data in a list according to their likelihood to berequested. Then, one by one, the controller can place these data ondedicated caches. Of course, the list can be decreased as some of thepieces of data of the list are actually requested by a client and placedon a cache thereafter.

Now, an example of the method is discussed in the case the data includesan operating system image. In such a case, communication via iSCSIinterfaces of the server and/or the client is particularly efficient fortransmitting pieces of data which are parts of the operating systemimage.

A computer uses a collection of software to perform tasks. Thiscollection is usually formed by an operating system (OS), which providesthe interface to the underlying hardware, and applications, which usethe OS to run in a given machine. Such a software collection can bestored in the form of an operating system image, or simply “image”,which is a representation of a disk with the OS and applications alreadyinstalled. In any complex computer infrastructure, be it a data center(physical machines) or a Cloud (virtual machines), a library of imagescan be maintained so that any computer at any point in time can performa given task, defined by the logic in the image that is installed onthat particular computer. In those complex environments, working withimages is preferred to installing the software stack from the sourcemedia, as transferring the content of the image to the target computeris faster than going through the installation process of every item ofthe desired software stack.

Images are usually large, each of them containing Gigabytes of data.These images are stored in some repository in a central location (i.e.the server), whose simplest form consists in having a file per image ina filesystem on a storage device such as a disk (i.e. a repository). Fora machine (i.e. a client) to make use of one of these images, the imagecontents must be copied over the network to the disk of the machine.Given the large size of the images, this is a costly operation thattakes a long time even on powerful hardware.

The method can thus transfer the image contents on-demand, using astreaming approach. The image is made available through an iSCSI target,and an iSCSI initiator on the client pulls the contents of the image asthe OS booting and the applications working requests them. As a result,portions of the image that are not needed for a particular scenario arenot transferred to the disk of the client machine. A streamingdeployment has the advantage over a conventional deployment that the OScan be used during the deployment itself. FIG. 3 shows this benefitschematically, by representing how the earlier utilization of resourceswith streaming deployment results in more work being done faster on theclient which is receiving the data using streaming.

The method can aim at transferring 100% of the content of the image tothe client machine. This is advantageous if the client machine isexpected to be disconnected from the server and thus the centralrepository of images in the future. In this approach, to complete thedeployment, all the contents of the image must be transferred to theclient's disk memory.

In general, signaling the presence of a piece of data is particularlyadvantageous in all cases that streaming is used but the whole data iseventually needed by clients. Indeed, in such cases, a client acquiressome pieces of data through the streaming, i.e. on demand. But in themeantime, the client can acquire data not requested yet by the clientthrough the signaling mechanism. This is discussed by way of exampleshereunder.

A naïve way of performing such a complete transfer can be to wait forthe client to eventually browse all the pieces of the whole image whilestreaming. However, it can be prohibitively slow to wait for the normaloperation of the machine to request everything on the image throughstreaming, or this can actually never happen because not everything onthe image is necessary for the machine to perform its assigned task.

Thus, the method can introduce a mechanism that combines with astreaming infrastructure already in place, such that the method does nothave a separate transmission channel that has to write to the client'sdisk at the same time, which can be complex and error-prone. Namely, inparallel to the streaming (sending pieces of data on-demand, e.g. by theserver to the client), the method includes completing the image byplacing unrequested pieces of data on a cache of the server andsignaling their presence to the clients. The clients can thus completethe image while continuing the streaming. The method thus improvesperformance for image streaming, while at the same time allowing anefficient process of downloading the full content of the image. Theapproach of the method is more adequate in the case of streaming imagesto machines, because it limits the amount of resources needed by theimage server by using a single infrastructure, i.e. using the samememory cache areas for both streaming and image completion. The imagedata gets into the client's disk through a single point, avoiding anyrace conditions, data corruption, or requiring complex coordinationmechanisms between the streaming infrastructure and the complementarydata distribution.

The method optimizes the distribution of an identical or similar imageto a large number of clients from a single or much smaller number ofservers (the image being stored on a repository on the server). Theclients start at a similar moment in time and request the parts of theoperating system that permits them to boot from the server. This cancorrespond to an occasional upgrade of a set of hosted machines withinan organization e.g. the installation of a new version of Windows, or afrequent activity due to the requirements of dynamically varying load,e.g. deploying a clean setup for analytics on a scientific cluster.

While the clients start at the same moment, the resources that theypossess can be different, meaning that the progress they make candiffer. After a certain moment a client can have enough of the operatingsystem to run and can start user-level applications. The disk blocks(the term “block” being conveniently used here to designate a piece ofdata) can be streamed from the server to the client's disk as requestedby disk operations made by the operating system. The deployment to theclient is complete when all blocks that contain data have been copied(blocks that are not used by the file system—free blocks—do not need tobe copied).

With such a method, the deployment of the client does not have to waituntil the application has accessed every block on disk. Instead, anagent running on the client can pro-actively request blocks that havenot yet been accessed when the client can otherwise be idle, eventuallyleading to all blocks being streamed from the server to the client'sdisk. A distinction can be made of the blocks that the client needs inorder to complete current user-level tasks and blocks that are requiredto complete the deployment. The method takes advantage of the fact thatthe latter can be accessed in any order to optimize server side diskaccess. It can achieve this by allowing the server to periodicallysignal to the client which blocks are available from the server's memorycache areas, and will therefore not require a fetch from the server'sdisk. The agent running on the client can merge its knowledge of whathas already been streamed to its local disk with what is currentlyavailable at the server's cache to be selective in the blocks it requestto complete the deployment. In particular, if there are blocks that areavailable in the server cache that it has not already read, then theclient can privilege the downloading of these blocks.

On the server side, a streaming component can communicate with theunderlying image storage infrastructure to control the memory cacheareas where blocks needed by clients are stored. The default behaviourcan be for the server to cache blocks that have been recently accessedand discard least recently used blocks. If the image storageinfrastructure is able to determine how similar images are, it can groupimages by similarity, to instruct the streaming component to use adifferent memory cache for each image group. The storage infrastructurecan determine similarity between images by using a single instancestorage capability, where blocks that have the same content in multipleimages are only stored once, thanks to a content signature algorithmthat helps identifying the content of the blocks. In general, the servercan thus gather the pieces of data into groups of similar pieces of dataand attribute a respective cache to each group.

As an additional optimization, the storage infrastructure can use astatistical analysis on blocks being requested by the streamingcomponent to group blocks together, by the likelihood that a block isassociated with another block (i.e. belonging to the same operatingsystem task). This statistical relationship can be used to populatememory caches with blocks that are very likely to be requested by theclients, based on the current activity made by the clients.

Typically, in the case of multiple similar images, the sequence ofblocks accessed during the boot sequence is mostly identical acrossthese similar images. A further optimization consists in having on theserver side a specific caching area destined to accommodate bootsequence blocks. This allows to significantly improve images bootingtime. FIG. 4 shows the different components in an example and how theyinteract for performing a method of communication of the invention. Thesteps describing the interaction process are numbered in circles. Inthis example, the streaming infrastructure is already in place. Thusimages can be streamed to machines on-demand through the use of astreaming device 410. Images are located in a repository 401, andclients request image contents to the repository 401 through iSCSIinterface 405.

A detailed description of the steps of an example of a method oftransmitting data over the network of FIG. 4 including a server andclients follows, referring to the circled numbers of FIG. 4:

-   -   1. The method of the example includes streaming an image to a        number of clients.    -   2. In parallel to the streaming, the method includes introducing        by a signaler 420 of the server a piece of data B from the image        repository 401 into a cache 416 between the iSCSI target and the        the images themselves. The selection of what data to pull from        the repository 401 can be made using information given by the        image storage infrastructure. The signaler 420 can for example        pull the piece of data B from the image in the repository 401,        and places it in the corresponding memory cache 416 for the        image group.    -   3. The method includes signaling to clients that the piece of        data B, corresponding to some portion of the image, is available        for faster access.    -   4. The method includes requesting by an agent 408 on the client        machines the download of the data available in the cache 416,        e.g. using the same mechanism that any other application or the        OS itself uses, e.g. sending a request to the streaming driver.        This can be achieved directly through special device calls or by        simply accessing the portion of the disk corresponding to B and        triggering the request of the data in the cache 416.    -   5. If necessary, the data is transferred through the iSCSI        connection from the server to the local disk 412. If parts of it        are already on disk, only the required data is downloaded.    -   6. The image data block B is written to local disk 412.    -   7. The agent 408 can inform the signaler 420 when the data is        found on the local disk 412. Once all clients are finished, the        signaler 420 can repeat the process with subsequent portions of        the image.

A driver can be used to write the contents to the local disk 412 on theclient as the OS and applications demand them. The agent 408 can requestarbitrary data from the local disk 412. The agent 408 can also requestthe data by directly contacting a streaming driver. A fraction of thedata in the image can be pulled into the server cache 416, and it issignaled to the agents in the clients. This can be the case when thefraction is common to several pieces of data in order to increaseefficiency.

The storage infrastructure can be made of the repository 401 of imagedata, and a controller 402 that can perform some analysis on the imagedata (image similarity, statistical relationships between blocks). Themethod can include introducing data into the cache 416 using informationreceived by the storage infrastructure's controller 402. A fraction ofthe data in the image mat pulled into the server cache, and it issignaled to the agents in the clients. A specific cache can be used tostore the blocks used for images boot sequences. Indeed, the bootsequences are the requirements and providing such specific cacheminimizes the boot image deployment duration of FIG. 4.

Fast scalable access is guaranteed for the whole of the image, so it canbe efficiently transferred to all clients. This mechanism can begeneralized for other on-demand data distribution schemes that need tobe completed fast and reliably.

The benefit of this approach can be simply presented as hereafter.Assume there are C clients and 1 server. Assume that an image can bedivided into N identically sized chunks all of size M bytes, i.e. theimage is of size I=N*M. Assume that the disk throughput is 10 MByte/Secon average. Assume, the cache throughput is 1 GByte/Sec. Assume that thecache size is 10% of the size of the image, i.e. the cache is of sizeI/10. In the absolute worst case scenario of the method, every blockmust be read from disk, i.e. the time taken to read the image is(C*I)/10⁷ seconds. In the absolute best case, the image is read oncefrom disk and then the rest of the time from cache, i.e. the time isI/10⁷+I*(C−1)/10⁹. Thus, for example, assume an image of size I=10 GByteand C=100 clients. In the worst case it can take (100*10¹⁰)/10⁷=10⁵seconds or 27 hours. In the absolute best case10¹⁰/10⁷+10¹⁰*99/10⁹≈2,000 seconds, or 30 minutes. While these figuresare only schematic, they give an indication how much signaling the cachecontents allow the invention to achieve multiple orders of magnitudethroughput.

The flowchart and block diagrams in the Figures illustrate thearchitecture, functionality, and operation of possible implementationsof systems, methods and computer program products according to variousembodiments of the present invention. In this regard, each block in theflowchart or block diagrams can represent a module, segment, or portionof code, which includes one or more executable instructions forimplementing the specified logical function(s). It should also be notedthat, in some alternative implementations, the functions noted in theblock can occur out of the order noted in the figures. For example, twoblocks shown in succession can, in fact, be executed substantiallyconcurrently, or the blocks can sometimes be executed in the reverseorder, depending upon the functionality involved. It will also be notedthat each block of the block diagrams and/or flowchart illustration, andcombinations of blocks in the block diagrams and/or flowchartillustration, can be implemented by special purpose hardware-basedsystems that perform the specified functions or acts, or combinations ofspecial purpose hardware and computer instructions.

FIG. 5 is a block diagram of computer hardware according to anembodiment of the invention, which can be a client system. A computersystem (301) according to an embodiment of the invention includes a CPU(304) and a main memory (302), both of which are connected to a bus(300). The bus (300) is connected to a display controller (312), whichin turn is connected to a display (314) such as an LCD monitor. Thedisplay (314) is used to display information about a computer system.The bus (300) is also connected to a storage device such hard disk (308)or DVD (310) through a device controller (306) such as an IDE or SATAcontroller. The bus (300) is further connected to a keyboard (322) and amouse (324) through a keyboard/mouse controller (310) or a USBcontroller (not shown). The bus is also connected to a communicationcontroller (318) conforms to, for example, an Ethernet (registeredtrademark) protocol. The communication controller (318) is used tophysically connect the computer system (301) with a network (316).

A server system of an embodiment can sensibly be represented by blockdiagram of computer hardware. In the case of the server, the hard disk308 can be a repository and the server has at least one cache inaddition to the repository (the repository having at least one owncache).

What is claimed is:
 1. A computer program product comprising a non-transitory computer readable storage medium having stored thereon: first program instructions programmed to store a plurality of image files including a first image file, with each image file including an operating system and a set of application(s), on a disk included in an image file repository server system; second program instructions programmed to select, by the image file repository server system, a block of data which is a portion of image file data of the first image file; third program instructions programmed to copy the block from the disk of the image file repository server system to a first cache memory of a set of cache memory(ies) included in the image file repository server system; and fourth program instructions programmed to cause a signaler included in the image file repository server system to transmit over a communication network and to a set of client(s), a block availability signal which includes an identifier of the block and indicates that the block is stored in the cache of the image file repository server system and is available to be accessed by the set of client(s), wherein the block of data selected by the image file repository server system comprises an unrequested block of data for which the image file repository server system has not received a request from the set of clients.
 2. The computer program product of claim 1 wherein the selection of the block of data is based, at least in part, using information given by an image file storage infrastructure of the image file repository server system.
 3. The computer program product of claim 1 wherein: the first image file belongs to a first image file group of a plurality of image file groups; the computer program product wherein the medium has further stored thereon: fifth program instructions programmed to select the first cache as a cache which corresponds to the first image file group.
 4. The computer program product of claim 1 wherein the medium has further stored thereon: fifth program instructions programmed to respond to the signaling, receiving, by the image file repository server system from a first client of the set of clients over the communication network, a request for a requested portion of data of the block; and sixth program instructions programmed to send, over the communication network, the requested portion of data of the block to the first client.
 5. The computer program product of claim 4 wherein sixth program instructions are further programmed to send the requested portion in a form and format according to an Internet Small Computer System Interface (iSCSI) protocol.
 6. The computer program product of claim 4 wherein the requested portion of the block corresponds to an entirety of data of the block.
 7. The computer program product of claim 4 wherein sixth program instructions are further programmed to send the requested portion of the block to a first local disk included in the first client.
 8. The computer program product of claim 1, wherein the signaler periodically transmits the block availability signal to the set of client(s).
 9. The computer program product of claim 1, wherein the signaler transmits the block availability signal by broadcasting the block availability signal to all of the clients of the communication network.
 10. The computer program product of claim 1, wherein the identifier comprises one of a block number of the block of data, an offset of the block of data, a location of the block of data and a size of the block of data.
 11. A computer system comprising: a processor(s) set; and a computer readable storage medium; wherein: the processor set is structured, located, connected and/or programmed to run program instructions stored on the computer readable storage medium; and the program instructions include: first program instructions programmed to store a plurality of image files including a first image file, with each image file including an operating system and a set of application(s), on a disk included in an image file repository server system, second program instructions programmed to select, by the image file repository server system, a block of data which is a portion of image file data of the first image file, third program instructions programmed to copy the block from the disk of the image file repository server system to a first cache memory of a set of cache memory(ies) included in the image file repository server system, and fourth program instructions programmed to cause a signaler included in the image file repository server system to transmit over a communication network and to a set of client(s), a block availability signal which includes an identifier of the block and indicates that the block is stored in the cache of the image file repository server system and is available to be accessed by the set of client(s), wherein the block of data selected by the image file repository server system comprises an unrequested block of data for which the image file repository server system has not received a request from the set of clients.
 12. The computer system of claim 11 wherein the selection of the block of data is based, at least in part, using information given by an image file storage infrastructure of the image file repository server system.
 13. The computer system of claim 11 wherein: the first image file belongs to a first image file group of a plurality of image file groups; the computer program product wherein the medium has further stored thereon: fifth program instructions programmed to select the first cache as a cache which corresponds to the first image file group.
 14. The computer system of claim 11 wherein the medium has further stored thereon: fifth program instructions programmed to respond to the signaling, receiving, by the image file repository server system from a first client of the set of clients over the communication network, a request for a requested portion of data of the block; and sixth program instructions programmed to send, over the communication network, the requested portion of data of the block to the first client.
 15. The computer system of claim 14 wherein sixth program instructions are further programmed to send the requested portion in a form and format according to an Internet Small Computer System Interface (iSCSI) protocol.
 16. The computer system of claim 14 wherein the requested portion of the block corresponds to an entirety of data of the block.
 17. The computer system of claim 14 wherein sixth program instructions are further programmed to send the requested portion of the block to a first local disk included in the first client.
 18. A server system comprising: an image data repository which stores image data; an interface, the image data in the image data repository being accessible to a client via the interface; a cache memory for storing image data from the image data repository; and a signaler that: selects an image data in the image data repository and stores the selected image data in the cache memory; and signals to the client that the selected image data is available to be accessed, wherein the image data selected by the signaler comprises unrequested image data for which the server system has not received a request from the client.
 19. The server system of claim 18, further comprising: a repository controller which controls an operation of the image data repository, the signaler selecting the image data based on information received by the repository controller, wherein the repository controller analyzes the image data stored in the image data repository for at least one of image similarity and statistical relationships.
 20. The server system of claim 18, wherein the signaler transmits over a communication network and to the client, an availability signal which includes an identifier of the selected image data and indicates that the selected image data is stored in the cache memory and is available to be accessed by the client. 